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Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini - A Small Galaxy Having Few Stars (Part 2)

4/27/2013 4:48:21 PM

What is the difference?

If you skip right to this section, we won’t blame you. Releasing a product that bears the same name with your high-end handset, whatever the suffix, of course, will ensure high expectations - for better or worse. Even though there are reasons not to compare the Galaxy S III mini with its larger sibling, many of you are here to argue, and we do not want to disappoint.

“Unboxing” a Samsung Galaxy S3 mini.

“Unbox” a Samsung Galaxy S3 mini.

We will start with some external differences before moving on to some more important features inside that whether the mini versions can be inherited. At first, start with the top of both devices, the mini one had slightly rounded appearance. Of course, this is a side effect of its narrower shape, which means its round shoulder met more quickly, leaving less space between their flat. Below this, you will notice that sensors and the camera had moved from the right on the original Galaxy S III to the left this time. Beneath these, Samsung's logo is much bigger as well as the total distance from the screen to the top of the device, make the beveled surface higher at the outermost part of the new phone. It also makes the device slightly elongated when placed next to each other. It seems that Samsung also think smaller hands want bigger input options, as the home button is significantly larger on the mini than on the standard Galaxy S III. The power button on the top right is also higher and squarer than on the original model, which is more symmetrical.

Around the back, the only notably different is the LED flash layout, currently below the camera lens. Speaker holes are located on the left of the camera instead of the right, as it did the first time. While not easy to point it out as a physical feature immediately, the original Galaxy S III has notification lights - seems to have been lost during the shrinking process. We think it is a great pity. That was aesthetic differences, now we will check whether there is any difference inside. (Yes, there is quite a lot).

The LED flash layout is currently below the camera lens

The LED flash layout is currently below the camera lens

Let’s start with the top again, the screen. We do not want to see the size of the screen as a bad specification when the whole purpose is to design a smaller phone. For some people, the 4.8 inch of the original version will be inclined a bit to phablet segment, so that the idea of ​​a 4inch version which was easier to handle can attract more customers. However, unfortunately this does not show a HD screen with rich pixels, due to the smaller size, it represents a lower resolution: 800x480. Obviously this is a poor specification, and made it equal with the Desire X of HTC, which can be competitive in many ways (the same clock speed, camera resolution, etc.). The PenTile matrix will not win many fans. Meanwhile, on the 4.8 inch screen of Galaxy S III, resolution 1,280x720 means 305 pixel per inch. Falling to WVGA and lost 0.8 inch witnessed PPI reduced to 233, it's not the worst thing we've ever seen, but it makes a significant difference. You will not need to look closely to identify the pixels with the naked eye, or light text on a black background to find a broken edge pixel which is visible, but with the large Galaxy S III, you have to bring the screen much closer to find details like that.

A next difference - and possibly the most important one - is what lay inside. While quad-core Exynos processor of Samsung usually made our stern face relax, they felt that power (or even Snapdragon S4 LTE) is simply too much for a phone of this level, by choosing a more modest processor NovaThor U8500 (1 Ghz) manufactured by ST-Ericsson (the same processor in the Galaxy Beam). Although its performance is not bad, if you are hoping this mini will be a pocket rocket art, it won’t.

Samsung S3 and Samsung S3 mini

Samsung S3 and Samsung S3 mini

Ok, so they have diminished the processor a bit. Pretty fair, you said - it will certainly make up for another field, right?  If so, then it is not in the camera field.  MP has been reduced from 8 to 5 on the main camera, and the front-facing camera has been decreased from 1.9MP to VGA resolution. The last one which was diminished is battery capacity - 1500mAh, down from 2100mAh. Of course, this is an awaited change and as we will discover later - it is not the change you should be concerned.

Somewhat, these poor specifications may be the center of many discussions related to the Galaxy S III mini. It can do almost anything else from now on, and we imagine it will not be very important to some people.  Beside teleportation feature, a holographic creation or 5G support, the fact is that many people read the article above and almost leave the phone immediately. Of course, they have the rights to do so, and if you are looking for a Samsung’s masterpiece – which was just smaller - then we will not blame you. However, if you drill more, please continue reading to understand it better, and maybe eventually you would not have a pessimistic view about this little phone.

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